The Battle of the Bird Seeds: Which bird seed will birds like more?


My Question.....
-Which birdseed will attract a greater diversity of bird species? Which birdseed will get eaten more?

Hypothesis
I think that Black Oil Sunflower Seed will attract the most bird species. I also think that it will get eaten the most.
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Feeder 1



Materials:
bird_project_001.jpg
Cracked Corn



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Millet
sunflower_seed.jpg
Black Oil Sunflower Seed
safflower_seed.jpg
Safflower seed







Paper

Pencil
Binoculars
Bird Feeders
Scale

Procedure:
-Fill a regular bird feeder with one type of seed. Fill the other feeder with another type of seed
-Weigh the feeders with the scale and record the weights.
bird_feeder_1.jpg
Feeder 2

-Go inside the house
-Watch birds throughout the day and record what species they are
-Weigh the feeders with the scale and record how much food has been eaten after 3 days
-Repeat the above for the other two types of seed

Interpretation of Results
The birds did not like the cracked corn at all. They only ate 100 grams of it.
The birds liked the millet most of all; they ate 1,070 grams of it.
My hypothesis was wrong though. The sunflower seed came in second for amount eaten.
Almost no birds came. The seeds were getting eaten, but I couldn't catch them at it.
See the graph below for more results.
bird_graph_2.jpg
Conclusion
The birds ate millet most of all. Either Millet or Sunflower seed would be the type to buy if you want lots of birds.
Birds do not like cold weather. A better time to do this experiment would be in the spring.

Type of bird seed

Black Oil Sunflower

Safflower

Cracked Corn

Millet Seed

Number of Types of Birds

1
0
0
0

Type of bird seed
Black Oil Sunflower
Safflower
Cracked Corn
Millet Seed
Weight of feeder with seed:
2,150 grams
1,900 grams
2,580 grams
2,950 grams
Weight of feeder after birds eat
1,380 grams
1,500 grams
2,480 grams
1,880 grams
Total amount eaten
770 grams
400 grams
100 grams
1,070 grams